


My Son Is Brave

by JKlog



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 00:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18304772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKlog/pseuds/JKlog
Summary: Written for the Sentinel Thursday challenge 623 (flinch).





	My Son Is Brave

Challenge 623 - flinch

Title: My son is brave.

Author: JKlog

Category: Gen

Word Count: 1010

A/N: I researched but couldn’t find out if vaccines are compulsory in USA. Apparently, there’s a huge debate about that.

Thanks to Bluewolf for the wonderful beta.

                                   

Naomi had a big doubt. Vaccinate or not vaccinate her child?

Blair was four years old. He had already received several vaccines since birth, but, for the past year, Naomi had been living in a hippie commune and there they talked constantly about having a natural life, without ingesting chemicals, which, according to her friends, did more harm than they helped .

But she was a very intelligent woman. Somehow, she doubted that so many scientists who had developed and tested those vaccines were wrong. Although she believed that Nature should be allowed to run its course, she was afraid of what might happen to little Blair if he wasn’t vaccinated.

So one day she told her best friend that she was going to the city to buy books. She borrowed the van from the commune and went to see a doctor with her son. Although no one would be angry with her because she wanted to see a doctor, she preferred not to have to explain herself.

Blair was very excited about the trip; although he had already gone to town, he had never gone alone with his mother. It was an adventure. His bright blue eyes looked everywhere, trying to see everything he could.

Naomi parked in front of the clinic. She descended, closed the door of the van and went to the other side to help Blair get down. She closed that door, too, and taking her son's hand, she went to the clinic door. Once inside, she went to the reception desk, where a young girl was sitting.

"Good morning, how can I help you?"

"Good morning. I'd like to see the pediatrician, please."

"Do you already have an appointment with Dr. Morrison?"

"No, I don’t have an appointment. But it’s important that I see him. See, I wanted to ask about vaccines for my son."

"I see. Well, there are five people before you, I will give you number six."

"Thank you."

Naomi gave her information to the receptionist and sat down to wait. She let Blair sit down with other children at special tables and chairs for them, with games and children's books laid out. As always, Blair mingled very well with the other children and Naomi smiled, thinking that he would be a very sociable person when he grew up.

One hour passed and gradually the children that Blair was playing with went away. Finally, Dr. Morrison called her.

They entered and Naomi smiled at the doctor, who was an elderly and very affable person. She could see his aura, and immediately knew that he was a reliable person.

"Good morning Doctor. My name is Naomi Sandburg and he’s my son Blair. I came to see if it is advisable that I vaccinate my son."

"Good morning, Mrs. Sandburg. Good morning, Blair," said the doctor, smiling and looking at Blair.

"It's Miss Sandburg, doctor."

The doctor continued looking at the little boy.

"How old are you, Blair?"

The little boy raised his right hand, showing four fingers.

"Four years! Soon you will go to school," said the doctor, as he ruffled the little boy’s hair affectionately.

"Well, Miss Sandburg, I think we should vaccinate Blair against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps and rubella, and chickenpox."

 "He’s already had vaccinations for measles, mumps, chickenpox and rubella, doctor, but what I really want to know is if those other vaccines have any negative effects that I should know about. Some people have told me that it’s not advisable to vaccinate children. What do you think?"

"I think that nothing can be more negative than your child contracting any of those diseases. The vaccines are a way to strengthen his defenses, nothing more than that. Regarding side effects, there have been cases of children who have had fever after being vaccinated, but it is temporary and not very serious. They just have to stay in bed for a day or two and take cold water baths."

"So is it perfectly safe for Blair to receive those other vaccines?"

"I would say yes, Miss Sandburg."

Naomi smiled, relieved. "Can you vaccinate him today, here?"

"Yes, if you wish. You just have to go to the infirmary."

"Thank you Doctor. I will do it right now."

They left the office and went to the infirmary. There was a middle-aged nurse, who, luckily, got on very well with the children. She gave Blair a toy to entertain him and explained what she was going to do. Blair looked at his mother, intrigued. She smiled at him and told him that it wasn’t going to hurt. Although, really, she knew that it was going to hurt a little, but she didn’t want to scare her son.

The nurse prepared the injection and lifted the sleeve of Blair's shirt. She passed a cotton ball with alcohol over his arm and quickly plunged the needle in.

Naomi was watching Blair’s face as the needle made first contact and guess what ... not a flinch, flutter or grit of the teeth.

Naomi was amazed. She had thought that Blair was going to cry, but no, nothing. The nurse congratulated him and gave him a candy. She helped him down from the stretcher where he had been seated. Blair was very serious, but not disturbed at all. Naomi thought that she had to tell her best friend what had happened. But then she would have to tell her she had vaccinated Blair. Well, Lilly could keep a secret. Besides, Naomi was thinking about leaving the commune. She had enough money to go where she wanted, and Blair was big enough now to travel. She was going to leave, surely, a broken heart behind, but ultimately she believed in ‘detach with love’.

Fortunately, there was a bookstore nearby, so she went there and bought a book about herbal medicine, another one about travelling around the world, and two coloring books for Blair.

While driving back to the commune, she looked briefly at her beloved son, and thought,

_My son is brave_.

 

 


End file.
